Ski Mountaineering

Tuttle-George's Creek Crest Tour

(Private Trip)

May 2-6,1998

Rich Henke



Crest Tour No. A in Moynier's book was the plan. A very long walk was required, however, since the Cottonwood Lakes road was closed 13 miles below the trailhead. A look at the south fork of Tuttle Creek from Route 395 and a quick survey of the Whitney 15 min. quad map convinced us that Tuttle Pass was a reasonable alternative entry point.

We spotted a car at George's Creek, our proposed exit point, and drove to Tuttle Creek trailhead to spend the night at an elevation of 6,000 feet. On Saturday, May 2, 1998, we started the tour with skis on our backs. The skiers were Maggie Filmore, Armando Menocal and myself. A good trail to "The Rockhouse" exists across from the south face of Lone Pine Peak. From just above the rockhouse, a surprisingly easy traverse on the left bank of Tuttle Creek led south and then west until we reached snow at about 8600 feet. The ski to the pass, at 12,880 feet, was gentle and continuous. Not until 300 feet below the pass did we do our first kick turn, after which we kicked steps up to the windy ridge. It was 7:15 pm by the time we had worked our way down the steep western side of the pass, where we reached some open water just below Sky Blue Lake.

What happened next is usually called a "learning experience." The poles and fly of our tent were unpacked, but the tent had accidentally been left in our car. After considerable pioneering engineering work, we managed to erect the fly over the poles using skis and straps. It had no floor, but otherwise we had a tent!

Day Two was bright and sunny, as had been the first day. This was better than expected, since the forecast predicted cloudy skies with possible showers. We skied north over Discovery Pinnacle at 13,750 feet where we had the strange experience of looking down at Trail Crest just south of Mt. Whitney. We descended to Guitar Lake and then continued clockwise around Mt. Whitney, stopping to camp at Arctic Lake.

On Day Three, the skiing improved considerably since three inches of new powder snow had fallen during the night. Russell-Whitney Col at 13,050 feet proved to be no problem, after which we descended to Iceberg Lake below the East Face of Mt. Whitney on good steep snow. Two skiers from Utah finished a ski descent of the Mountaineer's Route just as we arrived. We made turns all the way to Upper Boy Scout Lake, where a lone skier with a big black pack made beautiful turns down from Russell-Carillion Col. Later, we learned that the skier was Reiner Stenzel finishing a four-day solo tour from Williamson-Whitney starting at George's Creek. At this point, Armando opted to cut the trip short and headed out via Whitney Portal (backcountry skiers are allowed a few moments of weakness), while Maggie and I followed Reiner's tracks to Russell/Carillion Col and descended to Wallace Lake to camp. Our tent setup was quite proficient by now.

Four inches of snow fell that night, but the skies were clear on the morning of Day Four. We had decided to shorten our tour by taking a shortcut over Vacation Pass, just east of Wallace Lake. This route led to a canyon, which ended directly at Georges Creek. However, it was not to be. About 400 feet below the top we encountered very difficult conditions. The old snow was as hard as ice and fresh snow covered everything, making it difficult to get good ice axe placements. Reluctantly, we turned around. It was the first time in 20 years of spring skiing in the Sierra that I wished I had brought crampons! It was 11:30 am by the time we returned to Wallace Lake. Rather than turn back, we decided to continue on our original route over Mt. Bernard, although the weather was doubtful. It got worse as we skied up the long Southwest Ridge toward the 13,990 summit of Mt. Barnard. Conditions were bad enough at 13,000 feet that we had to prepare a tent platform for a possible campsite. Our makeshift tent needed a "perfect" site with deep snow on all corners to bury the poles and skis. With survival assured, we decided to continue on and see what developed with the weather. Because visibility had improved near the top, we were able to summit at 5 pm. A long boulder field led down toward the northeast to what looked like a skiable snow slope (i.e., one shallow enough to be safe from avalanches after the recent fresh snow). After a slow 1000-foot descent over snow-covered talus, we put our skis on at 6:30 pm and made a continuous 3,000 foot ski run to the junction of the north and south branches of George's Creek. Unfortunately, we were too tired and it was too late in the day to attempt to make turns. We descended all the way with big traverses and kick turns. It was dark by the time we crawled into the tent.

Day Five found us skiing good snow in George's Creek while descending to the trailhead. Armando had planned to wait for us, as he had expected us to finish the previous day. We thought that surely we would be out by noon but no chance! We skied until 8,000 feet and started walking. We made good time at first, but the middle portion of the bushwhack was extremely time consuming. Three stream crossings all required patience and agility. The trailhead was reached at 2 pm -- 6.5 hours after we broke camp.

The 30-mile distance covered on this tour was not excessive, but the elevation gain of 17,000 feet was considerable. Combined with poor snow, bad weather, and constant high elevation, the trip was very strenuous -- but very worthwhile!


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